In a recent conversation with a Fortune 500 IT group, we were very surprised to hear about the risks and issues they were having with their offshore service provider. Apparently, when offices were closed by COVID-19, and employees were dispersed to work at home they were negatively affected by the infrastructure issues of their country of choice.
It never occurred to me this would be an issue. To those of us used to offshore tech talent, we are used to there being good broadband access in the office with no latency or working issues. But it never occurred to me that should this workforce be dispersed, employees would have to rely on whatever is available to them in their home networks. As it turns out, country-wide infrastructure in some offshore locations is less then desirable and negatively affected their productivity and ability to meet deadlines.
So, why would a major Fortune 500 company only have one offshore location? Beats me! It seems intuitive that to mitigate such risk a company this size would have a multi-location strategy. I guess you get complacent working with only one offshore location. In spite of its 12-hour time difference, you are lulled into the idea that saving a few bucks an hour is the correct strategy and forget to consider other options.
In working in multiple locations and regions all over the world, I can tell you that there is a significant difference in what each region has to offer. If your only selection criteria is based on dollars per hour, then you are limiting your options to the detriment of your organization. Note that you do not have to be a global company to take advantage of a global workforce. Even medium-sized companies can leverage the wide spectrum of global talent available.
From experience, we know that there are many offerings and options and lot of talented people all over the planet. Let’s consider some options and benefits including the risk mitigation of single country exposure.
Depending on your company and your culture, it may be best for you to work in real time with your offshore provider. The 12-hour time difference halfway around the world does not work well for some organizations.
Have you ever considered Latin America (LATAM)? While many consider this an emerging market, we know there are very strong companies throughout LATAM that are quite talented. These are hungry companies looking to enter the US market, and most of them are in the Central time zone. This allows for real-time working collaboration. Using agile methodologies, the entire team can have a morning sprint meeting, remove blockers, decide on goals for the day, then get to work. Next morning, the daily touch base meeting occurs when your team is at their desk and ready for their day.
Ever worked in Eastern Europe? Admittedly, there can be some culture shock, but these are very conscientious, hard-working people with a very, very strong sense of pride in the quality of work they deliver. They are used to good broadband access and many work in flexible offices with an already-dispersed workforce. These are talented and educated workers who grew up with an agile methodology and are surprised to learn that the rest of the world does not always apply these methodologies as a matter of routine. Yeah, they work at a higher hourly rate, but the speed and quality of work effort and deliverables offers efficiency and productivity – including beating deadlines with fewer bugs – that is hard to quantify in just pure dollars.
In terms of risk mitigation, if a worldwide pandemic surge and shelter-in-place happens again, it may be best for you to have multiple locations instead of being dependent on just one region’s circumstances. What if you could pivot your work effort from one place to another rapidly and keep on track instead of being frustrated by hearing why this cannot be done? Beginning to develop this strategy now and having relationships in place prior to interruption would be way better than having to pull this trigger from scratch.
If you are not comfortable with a global workforce, it may be because you have never tried this before and your lack of experience creates more fear than confidence. What about the time difference, the language difference, and the cultural difference? What do I need to know about employment practices in different locations? How do I ensure accountability from an offshore team? Simple. Reach out to people who have done this for years and can help you and your organization benefit from global talent by leveraging their network of global providers. We can help you get started on this journey and assist in ways that never occurred to you based on our experience and global network.